Our Family Journey

I still haven't done a good job of updating our blog, but hopefully I will succeed at fullfilling my promise and keep in touch on a more regular basis.
I think I will post some photo's and then explain what is happening in them. That will probably explain what's been happening around here. I think I will start with the most recent photo's and work my way backwards with a little commentary in between.



Flora has been going to sleep exactly at 7pm lately. It's like a little switch goes off at 6:55pm she is a jazzed up toddler looking for trouble, giving kisses and playing with dolls, then comes 7:05 and the monster also known as Flora is born, so I put Flora down exactly at 7:00pm tonight and she was out like a light. Maria and I decided that we would make a trip to the grocery store to stock up on a few bargains that were only good on Friday the 13th so we left Daddy to do whatever it is that Daddy does when we are gone and headed off to Hy-Vee. After we returned home it was easy for me to get Maria to put on her PJ's because I had purchased some Cinderella snack cakes and one mention of, "If you put on your PJ's like a big girl, Mama will get you a Cinderella treat", did the trick. After the PJ's were on Maria decided that she wanted to do her hair. I asked if I could help her and of course I was told emphatically, No! So..here is Maria's hair that she did all by herself, a couple of clips and a headband. She was very proud of herself. After she was finished with her hair she decided she wanted to do my hair. She had a brush, a hairband and a couple of clips. I did my best not to wince as she yanked on my hair and declared that it was beautiful and that it looked just like Cinderella's. She must have brushed, and combed and tangled the hair band in it for 45 minutes. At one point, she said...Mama...it's stuck! Yep, it was stuck...I had to yank the hairband out of my hair. One of the most vivid memories I have of my childhood is brushing my mother's hair. I remember standing behind her brushing and combing and putting curlers in her hair. I also remember on at least one occasion twirling the comb in her hair and getting the hair so twisted around the comb that she had to cut it out. Sorry Mom!!


Maria, Flora, David and I went to Bob the Builder on Wednesday evening. It was fun. The girls liked the lights, action and the singing. The show was fine...they are all about the same. It was kind of funny...as we were walking in there were signs that said, No Outside Food...so we're walking in and I grab in my purse and pull out the tickets and give them to the usher, at that precise moment, Flora goes into my purse and pulls out a bag of Fruit Loops...the usher looks at me with a very scornful face and says...No Outside Food...I reply...Oh, those are in there from a week ago...we won't eat them in the show. Yeah...Right!! A few minutes later we were comfortably in our seats when the same usher walks by as Flora is holding the bag of Fruit Loops and a chunk of string cheese...if looks could kill I would never be allowed in the Washington Pavillion again, but also that usher and her management have never sat and waited for a show to start for a half an hour with a 3 year old and an almost 2 year old....if so they would say...oh honey, I know exactly what you are going through, if it takes a bag of Fruit Loops and a couple of hunks of string cheese to make sure these two don't scream their heads off, then you go right ahead. Ahhh...I can dream!